ORLANDO, Fla. – Under the heading of ‘Keep ’em guessing,’ Orlando City SC headed to New York on Thursday afternoon with the status of star man Kaká almost literally up in the air.
Whether the Lions’ captain and Designated Player actually made the flight was a closely-guarded secret as Orlando prepared for Friday’s showdown with their expansion rivals NYCFC (7 pm ET; UniMás), with the team still insisting he was “a game-time decision.”
The great Brazilian has missed both of the team’s first two outings after suffering a thigh strain in training before the big kickoff on March 6 and, with a week off following this weekend’s full program, it is possible the Lions could err on the side of caution in ensuring he is fit for April, and beyond.
Despite the weather being positively summer-like in Central Florida already, Kaká has done all his work this week behind closed doors at the training ground, while fellow injury victims David Mateos and Carlos Rivas have been outside.
Head coach Adrian Heath insisted all three were still in contention on Thursday morning.
“Carlos and David have upped their workload and we will have a good idea if they have any reaction. They have given us some optimism with the way they have worked this week, and we’ll check it before we leave to see if we think they can contribute this weekend.
“Kaká is working in the gym. He is training hard and he will be another game-time decision.”
Heath insists he is more concerned with his own team’s form than trying to discern what formation New York City will deploy against them, after Patrick Vieira’s men have fielded two completely different systems in their pair of games so far, including a 3-4-3 in the 2-2 draw at home to Toronto last Sunday.
“NYC are at home and they have a decent record at home,” Heath observed. “We’ve been trying to work out what system they’ll play, which is difficult because they’ve used a couple of different systems so far. But I’m mainly concerned with ourselves, to see how we approach the game.
“It’s a first away game for us this season and hopefully we could have the same result we did in winning our first game last year away at Houston. If we could pick up a good result up there, it would be a decent start.”
With each of Kaká, Mateos and Rivas uncertain to resume starting roles, the Orlando lineup could well be the same as that which began the 1-1 draw at home to Chicago last Friday, with one change.
Midfielder Darwin Ceren has completed his one-game suspension from his opening-weekend red card against Real Salt Lake, hence he should return in place of Servando Carrasco to partner Cristian Higuita, while recent signing Antonio Nocerino makes his second start just behind the more attacking duo of Kevin Molino and Adrian Winter.
If Mateos remains on the sidelines, USA U-20 international Tommy Redding will continue to partner with Seb Hines in the center of defense, but there is no doubt who will lead the attack, after scoring a hat-trick on both visits to New York in 2015.
Cyle Larin netted the first treble of his professional career against NYC in a 5-3 losing cause last July, then repeated the trick in the shock 5-2 win at the Red Bulls in September, and the Canadian striker insists he gets a buzz out of playing in the Big Apple.
“When I play there, I feel good,” he confirmed. “Every time I go, I get excited and I put the ball in the back of the net.”
His coach is also excited to see Larin back in his happy hunting ground. “Obviously, the Big Apple looks after him, likes him,” Heath added. “And there’s no reason he can’t do it again. I’ve already said I expect Cyle to get 20 goals this season, and nothing I’ve seen so far tells me he won’t.”
